EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

KOBERN-GONDORF is a small double town trailing out along the Mosel banks, 13km east of Treis-Karden. The most unusual local attraction is the Goloring , a prehistoric circular tomb complex dating from 1200 to 600 BC. In Kobern's Kirchstrasse is the Abteihof , the oldest half-timbered house in the Rhineland-Palatinate: built in 1321, it looks in remarkably good shape for its age. Also worth visiting is the castle complex. The Niederburg is an extensive pile of crumbling masonry with a more or less intact tower, while the Oberburg has the almost perfectly symmetrical Romanesque Matthiaskapelle , which once housed the remains of the Apostle Matthias (later transferred to the Matthiaskirche in Trier).

The tourist office (Mon-Thurs 3-5pm, Fri 2-5pm; tel 0 26 07/12 59, fax 40 45, www.kobern-gondorf.de ) is on Kobern's Marktplatz. Hotels include Gasthof Kastorschänke , Bahnhofstr. 18 (tel 0 26 07/12 59; DM80-99/¬40-49), and Simonis , Marktplatz 4 (tel 0 26 07/2 03; DM150-199/¬75-99). For eating and drinking , try Weingut Thomas Höreth , housed in an old mill, complete with wine museum, at Mühlental 17. To get there, take the road up to the Matthiaskapelle, then turn down the road opposite the cemetery. There are restaurants in both the hotels mentioned above, and another well-regarded establishment, Marais , in the Oberburg. Kobern-Gondorf has a wine festival in late June and early July, another during the second weekend in September and a third in the second weekend in October.